Faculty/Author Profile

Christopher Garcia

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

New York, NY, USA

Christopher L. Garcia is a Litigation partner and a member of the Securities Litigation and White Collar Defense and Investigations practices.

Prior to joining Weil, Mr. Garcia was Chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. As Chief of the Securities & Commodities Fraud Task Force, he led a unit of more than 35 prosecutors, law enforcement agents, and staff in all aspects of securities fraud investigations, trials, appeals, and other litigations.

During his tenure, Mr. Garcia supervised the investigation and prosecution of more than 300 cases, including matters arising out of the 2008 financial crisis and in areas of corporate fraud (Refco, Doral Financial, Duane Reade, Vitesse), insider trading (cases relating to Galleon Group, expert networks, and hedge fund insider trading), and fraudulent investment schemes (criminal and civil forfeiture actions relating to the Bernard Madoff fraud). In addition, Mr. Garcia personally handled a high profile investigation of an entity responsible for structuring fraudulent tax shelters and helped negotiate a resolution of that matter that resulted in approximately $554 million in forfeiture and penalties. He also personally conducted nine federal jury trials and successfully litigated numerous appeals.

As a prosecutor, Mr. Garcia received numerous awards, including the DOJ’s Director's Award for Superior Performance for having successfully convicted, after trial, Refco's past president and former owner, Tone N. Grant. Mr. Garcia also received several awards for his work in helping forfeit more than approximately $8 billion dollars in connection with various cases.

Prior to joining the US Attorney’s office, Mr. Garcia clerked for the Honorable Stephen M. Orlofsky of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and worked as an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell for four years.

Mr. Garcia is a member of the White Collar Criminal Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association and Co-Chair of the Securities Fraud Sub-Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association. He is a member of the bars of New York and Massachusetts and is admitted to practice in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the US District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Mr. Garcia received his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he served as Senior Editor of the Journal of Law and Public Policy and as
President of the Board of Student Advisers. He also received his A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard College.